Michael O'Connor has been Harvard's head coach of coed and
women's sailing and the university's director of sailing since
1997.

Since taking over the Crimson program, Harvard has won national
team race championships in 2002 and 2003 as well as the 2003
national coed championship and the women's national title in 2005.
His teams won five straight Leonard M. Fowle Trophies for the
top team performance in the six ICSA North American Championships
from 2001-2005. It is the second-longest Fowle Trophy run in
history, trailing only Navy's streak of seven Fowle Trophies from
1977 to 1983.

Individually, O'Connor has guided Harvard sailors and crew
members to four national sailor of the years distinctions, a
quartet of singlehanded championships and 57 All-America
honors.

Since the inception of the ICSA All-Academic Team in 2006,
O'Connor's student-athletes have been honored 17 times with the
award that recognized those who have distinguished themselves in
national and intersectional competition, while maintaining the
highest levels of academic standards. Additionally, eight members
of his teams have earned Academic All-Ivy League honors.

Regionally, Harvard has also won eight New England titles under
O'Connor's tutelage, including four singlehanded championships,
earned three sailor of year honors and collected 33 accolades.

O'Connor has been affiliated with the Crimson sailing program
since 1989, when he joined the staff as a part-time assistant to
former head coach Mike Horn. He was promoted to full-time assistant
coach and manager of the Harvard Sailing Center in 1990 before
assuming his current position in 1997.

O'Connor has a long and distinguished record of commitment with
the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association, and he
currently represents that organization on the Inter-Collegiate
Sailing Association All-America Committee. In 2013, he was
presented with the ICSA's Graham Hall Award for Outstanding Service
as a Sailing Professional and inducted into the ICSA Hall of
Fame.

His experience in compeitive sailing dates to his high school
days, when he played a key role in the introduction of the sport at
Boston College High School. O'Connor went on to spend four years as
a member of Boston University's sailing team before he graduated
from that institution in 1989.

O'Connor has taught sailing at a number of clubs throughout
Massachusetts, including the Wild Harbor Yacht Club, Chappaquoit
Yacht Club, Falmouth Yacht Club, and Nantucket Yacht Club. He is
currently the director of the Falmouth Sailing School.

O'Connor's family includes his wife, Jane, and their daughters,
Julia and Caitlin. The O'Connors live in Foxboro, Mass.